Research Information System
BILIG, no.56, pp.1-24, 2011 (SSCI)
In this cross-cultural study, a risk-taking scale constructed by Bayar and Sayil (2005), was administered together with a survey to determine cultural context, on a total sample of 1151 Turkish, Canadian, and Kosovar university students aged 17-22. The potentially dangerous, life-threatening or health-compromising reckless activities which involve thrill-seeking, physically daring actions or rule breaking - observed among adolescents were examined in individualist (Canadian) and collectivist (Turkish and Kosovar) cultures for cultural and gender differentials. Results revealed that the English-speaking Canadian sample showed higher risk-taking behavior; the same was true for the males in all three countries. Overall, the Torontian and the Pristinian samples revealed near-polar opposites on the individualist-collectivist continuum, for both sexes, with the Ankarites positioned midway. The Ankarites identified with the "individualist" Torontians only in risk-taking activities but more with the "collectivist" and Muslim Pristinians in parental bonding and normative behavior.